Anxiousness, irritability, sleep disturbance, obsessing about cigarettes are all withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting smoking. Anyone who has ever smoked knows how difficult it is to stop. Nicotine serves a dual purpose to those who smoke because it is both a stimulant and a relaxant. The health risks, the smoker's cough, the reeking smell and the cost, are all well known to smokers. The fact that you cannot smoke indoors anymore, except in your own home, and many people do not even do that, does not deter people from quitting.
Sometimes when I read articles on how to quit smoking I wonder if the person who wrote the article has actually ever smoked. If they have ever smoked, how could they recommend chewing on celery? Who would want to do that, especially first thing in the morning? Do not try lighting celery either because the results are just plain nasty. Telling someone how to quit smoking when you've never smoked is like telling someone how to diet when you have never had the pleasure of doing so yourself.
Six weeks ago, I was a former smoker. Over two years, I had under my belt. I quit the easy way. I was in an accident, and in the hospital I was hooked up to a morphine drip for two weeks and not only did I not realize that I did not smoke, I did not even know my name. A bit drastic, but it worked. By the time I recovered I had not smoked for over three months and all I heard was "surely you DON'T want to go back to smoking now". Well, yes, in fact, I did. I really did. Disregard the morphine drip idea to quit smoking, because I do not think that they are going to make that widely available.
Why I started again is not important. I can make all the excuses in the world, but why bother? The fact is, I did start again. I am not smoking that much, maybe two or three cigarettes per day. I should just quit now but it is more of a psychological block that is stopping me, rather than the full-blown addiction part.
One of the biggest challenges facing a person who is trying to quit smoking is this: it is a pleasurable, and still legal, activity. When you smoke, you think no one else smokes. When you quit, you realize just how many other people do smoke. Smoking becomes part of your stress reducer. People use it to calm themselves. People smoke because it has become a deeply ingrained habit.
The association between smoking and certain activities is one of the major difficulties faced by people trying to quit smoking. During the two years I did not smoke, every time I waited for a bus, I looked in my purse for my cigarettes. Then I would remember I did not smoke anymore. People associate smoking with coffee, alcohol, work breaks and sitting around with their friends. These may sound like minor things but they become automatic habits that are difficult to break. A habit that is associated with a pleasurable activity is always difficult to break.
Smoking is an addiction. However, thousands of people quit every year so it can be done. The main difficulty lies in whether or not a person really wants to quit. A few weeks of irritation, restlessness, anxiety and the other symptoms associated with nicotine withdrawal are not impossible to live with. Nicotine withdrawal is relatively quick compared to breaking the habits associated with smoking.
The most important thing you need, in order to quit smoking and stay that way, is a reason to quit. Of course, you have to want to quit or you are doomed from the start. Having something that makes you say "this is why I quit, this is what makes it all worthwhile", is what gets you through those times when it is all you can do to stop from running, with your much cleaner lungs, to the all night convenience store, to buy a package of cigarettes.
There are many reasons to quit smoking but there are many difficulties as well. People who smoke, or have smoked, know all the reasons to quit but anyone who has ever smoked also understands just how hard it is to quit. We call alcoholism and drug addiction diseases, but we call smokers weak. Personally, I do not think any of the three are a disease but I certainly understand the difficulties that any person with an addiction to anything faces when trying to quit.
Every second at least one person dies from smoking in North America. In the time it took you to read this article, I wonder just how many smokers died. Withdrawal symptoms aside, I know it is time. I have a teenager and I want to live long enough to see my grandchildren.